The 10 Commandment
- Segun Laniyan
- Mar 21, 2017
- 11 min read
Have you ever wondered God's intention behind the 10 commandments? Do you think they were just rules of dos and don'ts? Or maybe they were God's way of simply preventing the Israelite from indulging in sin. The question isn't just why the 10 commandments but why God specifically chose everything He did in the commandment?
The are two major things involved in a conversation. In fact understanding these are very vital that without the applied knowledge, the stability of relationships of any kind including marriage are threatened. When a person wants to begin a conversation with another, depending on his elocution ability, he tries to depict his mind, with the use of words, to the listener. How well he depicts his mind, in words, depends on how eloquent he is.
Now in the speakers mind, what he wants to say is very clear to him. The problem now is how he can make the listener see his mind in his words. The speaker's mind has the clear Context but the fashion of how this is delivered for the listener to grasp is the Content. The major cause of mis-commnunication is that the speaker cannot effectively align his Context with his Content hence making the content ineffective for the listener. The Context is the speaker himself hence the Content can never be understood except the Context is.
Just like the commandment; the commandment is the Content but the Context is God Himself. Of course the one who created and fashioned the tongue to speak has no problem with aligning His Context with His Content in communication. The problem is we the listener; who would never understand until we draw near to His Context (God Himself).
Before we demystify the 10 Commandment lets establish some truth:
The 10 commandments aren't just rules of dos and don'ts but are Moral Standards that every man's and nations' morality must be measured against.
God is the author of the 10 commandments
Without God all moralities are just personal belief build on personal opinions (we have seen the result of this in the Nazism and Communism regime where 100 million people excluding soldiers were executed)
Western Civilization which developed universal human right, woman equality, ended slavery, created parliamentary democracy was established on the 10 commandments
The 10 commandments is relevant today as they were 300 thousand years ago; so much so that it is needed to make the world free of despotism and cruelty hence creating and maintaining a stable civilization
Lastly, the 10 commandment significantly stands out from the mosaic law as it's written by the Finger of God (Exodus31:18) and it applies to both Jews and Christians.
THE COMMANDMENTS
Its important to acknowledge that the 10 commandment has to do with how God wants us to treat our fellow human being; which is morally. So the commandment has nothing to do with what human being should do for God like the Pre-commandment (such as feeding their god and sacrificing people to their gods). This would be made clearer as we demystify the commandments.
It would have made more sense if God had showed up and declare "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND EARTH". Instead He first declared:"I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF BONDAGE". This just shows how He is concerned about the well being of His people and hates bondage of any kind.
This commandment is very important; so much so that without it the other commandment wouldn't be relevant.Why?... Firstly, it exerts that God is giving the commandment not Moses or any other man. Secondly, it stresses that it's God that delivered them from slavery not Moses or any other man therefore they have an obligation to God to live by the other 9 commandments. This (the second points) leads to Ethical Monotheism which means that only God is the source of Morality (objective code of right and wrong). Thirdly, it stresses how the freedom of man (physically and spiritually) is important to God. Lastly, its tells us that we have a Creator who cares about His creations.
It's important to note that this commandment isn't limited to the worship of idols such as ancient pagan gods of rain, fertility or zeus but transcends into the worship of modern gods like money, self, celebrities, love etc; hence making this commandment relevant today as it was 300 thousand years ago. So why is it as relevant?...Firstly, It stresses Ethical Monotheism making us have one God or Father with Whom we all look upon for moral guidance. This inevitably makes us have one human race and only if we have the same Creator or Father we are brothers and sisters. Secondly, based on Monotheism and having the same God or Father we are all equal and no one is more valuable than the other. Thirdly, one God means one moral standard for all; so if God says murder is wrong then murder is wrong for everyone.
Some people misunderstand this commandment as meaning lightly misusing God's name in a conversation....a conversation such as, 'God! Did I have a terrible day today or God! I hate waking up early for work'. But this isn't so.
The Original Hebrew translation is "Do not Carry the name of the Lord your God in vain". If you can imagine with me.....you have, over the years, worked and labored with self-disciple and delay gratification to build your credit file so you can get mortgage for your dream house. But one day, a charlatan or con artist infiltrated your credit file and with your name borrowed loads of money with only the intention of squandering it and not paying back; leaving you solely responsible. How would you feel if that was you? Exactly!!! That is how God feels!
The fact that a person or religious sects carries the name of the Lord to commit atrocities or evil (either the present Islamic extremists or those who have killed for the name of Christ in the past) is very damaging to the name God. This is what God hates and wouldn't hold the person of group of people guiltless.
Unimportant as this commandment may seem, if you begin to understand it you would appreciate how relevant it is to your life. Firstly, this commandment elevates the well being of the human being by stressing that they need rest from work. Secondly, its reminds people that they are free because anyone who works 7 days a week is a slave to money. A millionaire that doesn't take time out of work is simple a rich slave. Thirdly, the commandment shows how God hates slavery hence making it impossible because a slave owner has no obligation to give his slave rest; however this commandment says that even servants should have rest; meaning that a servant is a servant and not a slave. Fourthly, the Sabbath day creates and strengthens family and friendship ties; because if you aren't working you would most-likely be spending time with family and friends. Lastly, the commandment even stresses that animals also deserves rest. This is where the national law against animal cruelty emerged from.
Its important to note that this commandment is available to anyone; a Jew, Christian or even an atheist. Also, if an atheist chooses to take a day, any day, off from work even if he remains an adamant atheist; he still acknowledges the commandment increasing the chance of him converting.
This commandment is important that's its the only one with a reason attached to it if observed. As the reward implies, any society that has children honoring their parents would survive and thrive but the opposite society is doomed to destruction.
Its important to note that the commandment or the entirety of the bible didn't command children to love their parents, even if it stress that we should love our neighbors and even strangers. The reason is honoring someone sometimes doesn't require your emotions or feeling towards that person. Its so sad today because most parents seek love from their children more than honor which inevitably leads to spoiling them.
Honoring shows that the is a moral authority children are obliged to submit to at all time. A son would most likely grow up into a world of crime, drugs and violence without a father figure while a daughter would most likely indulge in sexual promiscuity and end up with the wrong man. So a good father and mother figure to honor is very vital,
The commandment also helps children, when they leave their home to make theirs, keep in touch with their parents. These attitudes would be passed on because the is a very high chance that if your children see you honoring your parents when you grow old they would honor you!
You would think that this commandment is straight forward and cannot be misunderstood. This however isn't the case. In King James Version, which is the most widely used version, says "Thou shall not kill". In the original Hebrew translation it says 'murder' which is 'ratsach' in Hebrew (pronounced raw-sakh) and not 'kill'. The is a sharp difference between the two.
To kill means:
1. Taking any life
2. Taking a human life deliberately or by accident
3. Taking a human life legally or morally
To murder on the other hand only means one thing: To take a human life illegally or immorally. This is why you don't say 'I murdered a mosquito' but say 'I killed a mosquito' and why you don't say 'The man was accidentally murdered' but 'The man was accidentally killed'.
So, the commandment only condemns taking a human life illegally or immorally (murder). This means taking life in war, self defense, death penalty is allowed.
This maybe, for certain people, the most difficult of the commandment to observe because of the enormous power of the sex drive which is hard to keep in check throughout the entirety of ones marriage; especially when an attractive outsider makes themselves sexually or romantically available. Also, the human desire to love and be loved is hard to put under duress; especially when one is experiencing a loveless marriage.
So why is this commandment important? Just like the other 9, it is very vital in the forming and maintaining a higher civilization. Adultery, all by itself, can breakdown or destroy the building blocks of the civilization the 10 commandment seeks to create. This building block is the Family Unit (A Married Father and Mother and their Children). Anything that tries to destroy a family unit is strictly prohibited in the Bible; such as one not honoring their parents, incest and adultery.
The next question now should be..why is a Family Unit paramount to having a stable civilization?
1. Without it, the passing of society values from one generation to the other is impossible
2. Without it, social stability is impossible
3. Without it, making a man mature and responsible is almost impossible
4. Without it, meeting a woman's deep emotional need is impossible
5. Without it, a child having a safe and secure childhood is almost impossible.
Adultery shouldn't lead to divorce but it normally does hence breaking the family unit and leaving the children exposed to all sort of attacks. It can also lead to pregnancy; making the child, after birth, start life without a family.
Adultery is also detrimental to the emotional and sexual state of the marriage because when a married person is having sex outside marriage their emotional and sexual desires are detached from the marriage making the person less committed to the union. This in itself would lead to deceptive act because the person would be thinking of ways to deceive their spouse so they could be with the other individual.
It is important to note that even when the married couple give their consent to having sexual relationship outside marriage, as some do, this still would ruin the civilization the union or unit seeks to build.
This particular commandment cuts across the other commandments. Murder is stealing another person's life....adultery is stealing another person's spouse...coveting could lead to stealing what belongs to another, giving false witness is stealing justices.
Unlike the others, this is the only commandment that is open-ended and not specific; meaning it forbids all...and I mean all kinds of stealing. Yes!!!So intentionally taking that nice pen in the office home without asking is wrong and God forbids it.
There are three types of stealing this commandment forbids:
1. The stealing of people or kidnapping and selling just like slavery in the past and human trafficking in the present.
2. It forbids the stealing of people's properties.
3. It also forbids the stealing of non-material things such as reputation, dignity, trust, and intellectual property.
Stealing reputation means stealing someones good name through gossip or slander. This is very damaging because, unlike materials things, this isn't easy to restore.
Stealing dignity is know as humiliation. Doing this especially in public could do great damage.
Stealing trust is also know as deceiving someone. The original meaning is stealing knowledge or withholding knowledge from those who deserves it. An example is deceiving someone just to get in bed with them or holding a vital information needed for a buyer to make an informed decision before purchase.
Stealing intellectual property includes copying or downloading someone's software, music, movies or words (plagiarism) without the right medium of exchange.
People believes that this commandment is limited in a court. This isn't so. It forbids lying in court and also out of court.
Now remember that the core rationale behind the commandment is to create and maintain a stable civilization. So imagine if the was no truth in the court room or in a society; justice would be deprived. We both know that without justice the can be no civilization. In fact, this is so vital that, in a court room, the punishment (based in the Hebrew Bible) that would be requited to the person giving false witness is the same as the convicted person.
The are other values that are important on a personal or micro level; values like compassion and goodness but on a macro or societal level truth is far more important. Think about it; all the evil done on a macro level were successfully perpetrated because they were all based on lies. Slave traders, nazis and the communists, I'm sure they had compassion in their personal lives but they told and believed great lies.
Slavery wouldn't have been possible but for the lies that blacks are inferiors....the holocaust wouldn't have been possible but for the lies that Jews were inferiors.
"Mass murder happens, not because people are cruel, but because they are fed with lies that convinced them that what is evil s actually good"....Dennise Prager.
It's quite interesting that all other commandments spoke about forbidding evil actions but only one spoke about the thought; not just a thought but the thought that leads to these evil actions. This commandment is so important because it leads to the violation of the presiding 4 commandments.
Think about it....why do people steal? Because they covet other people's properties....why do people commit adultery? Because they covet other people's spouse....and I bet you that if you dig deep down to the root of murder, covetousness would be right there smile at you. In the act to cover all these evil one is subject to perjury or giving false testimony. So you see how being covetous can inevitable lead to evil.
Now what does Covet really mean? The Original Hebrew word is "Chamad" (pronounced khaw-mad) means to seek, take away and own something that belongs to another person. This doesn't mean one cannot desire to own something his neighbor owns; such as beautiful wife, nice house and car. But if this leads to acquiring this specific beautiful wife, nice house and car that belongs to your neighbor, it is coveting.
Imagine with me if you will.....how peaceful the world would be if all these commandments, without exception, are being wholly and truly obeyed. Imagine a world where everybody respected each other because they knew they were equal regardless of status...imagine a world where all draws from one true moral standard making all equally blamable for an offence.....imagine if we all worshiped only one true God....imagine if we all the time take out at least one day off to focus on our relationships and family....imagine if all children honored their parents....imagine if the was no murder, adultery or theft...imagine if no one was covetous...WooooW....how beautiful world we would have!
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